Court Extends the Arrest of Nadiya Savchenko Until July 13

Savchenko is suspected of terrorism and planning to overthrow the constitutional order

uatv

16.05.2018

Photo from Ukrinform

On May 15, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv extended the detention of Ukranian politician Nadiya Savchenko until June 23, Radio Svoboda reported.

“Risks stated by prosecutor are reasonable. Savchenko is suspected of intending to commit extremely serious crimes, and therefore, requires the usage of more severe measures. The court ruled: the petition of the senior investigating prosecutor to extend the detention period is granted. Custody is prolonged until July 13, 2018. The request of bail is rejected. The decision may be appealed within five days to the Kyiv Court of Appeal,” reads the decision of the court.

Judge Pavlo Slobodianiuk criticized the arguments of Savchenko and her lawyers about the political motivation of the case against her.

“When assessing the general and abstract objections of suspect Savchenko, in particular about the exclusively political motivation, the investigating judge draws attention to the fact that the body of the pre-trial investigation refers to actual results of conducted various investigative actions, including unclassified searches, conclusions of examinations, testimony of individual witnesses,” the judge said.

On March 22, the parliament stripped Savchenko of her deputy immunity and detained her moments after. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuriy Lutsenko,  brought the motion on March 21, to detain and arrest Savchenko. Lutsenko alleged that she and  Volodymyr Ruban tried to recruit officers of the Armed Forces to violently overthrow the government. The officers then reported it to the Security Service of Ukraine. Savchenko has denied  the allegations.

On March 23, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv put Savchenko in jail until May 20 as a preventative measure. On the same day, Savchenko declared a hunger strike. On March 29, the Kyiv Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the district court.

Savchenko, who was in the army as an aviation pilot, fought on the frontlines after the war started in Eastern Ukraine in 2014. She was abducted by Russia soon after. She spent two years in prison there, defying the Kremlin with a series of hunger strikes, and returned to a hero’s welcome in Kyiv, when she was released as part of a prisoner swap in May 2016.

She was elected to parliament as a part of the opposition, while she was still held in Russia. She soon became a critic of President Petro Poroshenko’s government after her return. She was heavily criticized after she held talks with Russia-backed separatists without any government consent.